NY Times – One Friday more than two years ago, an air-quality monitoring device atop the United States Embassy in Beijing recorded data so horrifying that someone in the embassy called the level of pollution “Crazy Bad” in an infamous Twitter post. That day the Air Quality Index, which uses standards set by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, had crept above 500, which was supposed to be the top of the scale.

So what phrase is appropriate to describe Saturday’s jaw-dropping reading of 755 at 8 p.m., when all of Beijing looked like an airport smokers’ lounge? Though an embassy spokesman said he did not immediately have comparative data, Beijing residents who follow the Twitter feed said the Saturday numbers appeared to be the highest recorded since the embassy began its monitoring system in 2008.—

The municipal government reported levels as high as 500 on Saturday evening from some monitoring stations. The Chinese system does not report numbers beyond 500. Nevertheless, readings in central Beijing throughout the day were at the extreme end of what is considered hazardous according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency standards. (By comparison, the air quality index in New York City, using the same standard, was 19 at 6 a.m. on Saturday.)—

—Xinhua, the state news agency, reported on Dec. 31 that Beijing’s air quality had improved for 14 years straight, and the level of major pollutants had decreased. A municipal government spokesman told Xinhua that the annual average concentration of PM 10, or particles 10 microns in diameter or smaller, had dropped by 4 percent in 2012, compared with one year earlier.

Beijing just doing what any chinese city does best…being overachieving as fucking shit. The scale says 500? Fuck that. They go 755! New York has a staggering 19 on that scale…And every single foreigner says how NYC is dirty. Suck my dick and get out then! You don’t like it? Bounce. If your city is covered in a thick coat of motherfucking smog from 20+ million cars driving around, you’re straight up killing everyone, and everything in that enviroment. Listen, I’m no treehugger. But I love blue skies, big thighs, and fresh pie (desert, and the women kind…hiyo). And smog is a dirty motherfucker. Its no bueno. This is one reason why I would never ever move to any city in China, or Asia, period. Dirty air everywhere…But maybe thats why asians squint the whole time…because they can’t see clearly through this shitty smog. Is that racist? or mind-blowing? I don’t know.

Sidenote: I looooove the overachieving Asian Dad Meme, and for some reason the whole article I couldn’t help but think of that the whole time.